Air Force Downs Cougars 3-1

PROVO -- The BYU women's volleyball team lost its conference home opener Friday 30-20, 23-30, 22-30, 20-30 to Air Force. With the loss the Cougars drop to 6-10, 1-2 Mountain West Conference while the Falcons improve to 7-9, 1-1.

"They did a nice job seeing taking advantage of our weaknesses," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "Air Force did a great job of serving and kept us from setting up our passing game."

The Cougars jumped to a big lead in the first game as Allison Larson came out with two quick kills and a double-block with Carrie Bowers. BYU stretched its lead to 18-8 before cruising to the easy win. BYU had its best hitting game of the match with a .324 attack percentage while holding Air Force to a --.070 percentage.

"We came out and played with a lot of confidence in the first game," Lamb said. "But they managed to adjust and we didn't adjust back."

On the night, BYU was led by Larson who had 13 kills on .308 hitting. Defensively Lindsey Metcalf continued to lead the team in blocks for the second match in a row, as she compiled six on the night.

The Falcons improved their attack in each of the last three games as they hit .111, .321, .412 to close out the match. Air Force which hit .170 as a team were led by the duo of Tiffany Bishop who had 16 kills and eight blocks with a .444 attack percentage, and Delavane Diaz who had 19 kills and eight digs with a.310 attack percentage.

With the win the Falcons end their 36-game conference losing streak, and won their first-ever match against the Cougars in nine tries dating back to 1997.

"I understand they have a lot of injuries and we were fortunate to take advantage of that," Air Force coach Penny Lucas-White said. "This is a great win for our program and it has given us a lot of momentum. We want to be able to savor this."

The Cougars will have a chance to get back in the win column as they host New Mexico Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                AFA vs BYU Cougars (Oct 04, 2002 at Provo, Utah)
    AFA                    |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  HUITT, Kristin......  4|  0   1   5 -.200| 44|  3   2|  0|  9| 0  1  0|  2
 5  BISHOP, Tiffany.....  4| 16   4  27  .444|  1|  0   0|  0|  4| 3  5  0|  0
 7  JEFFERSON, Lamecca..  4|  8   9  31 -.032|  2|  0   2|  0|  9| 1  0  1|  1
 10 DIAZ, Delavane......  4| 19   6  42  .310|  0|  0   1|  0|  8| 0  0  2|  0
 11 EDMONDS, Brittany...  4|  2   1   9  .111|  1|  1   0|  1|  4| 0  7  1|  2
 23 HAMLETT, Kristin....  4|  8   8  27  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  3  3|  0
 6  BEATTY, Jaime.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  3| 13| 0  0  0|  0
 12 DILDY, Katie........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   3|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 17 FINLEY, Melinda.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 53  29 141  .170| 48|  5  10|  4| 53| 4 16  7|  5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   7 10  43 -.070   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15 11  36  .111   AFA................. 20 30 30 30  7-9, 1-1 MWC
   3  14  5  28  .321   BYU Cougars......... 30 23 22 20  6-10,1-2 MWC
   4  17  3  34  .412
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  4|  3   4   8 -.125| 39|  0   1|  0|  8| 1  4  1|  2
 3  VARNER, April.......  4|  9   7  30  .067|  2|  0   1|  1|  9| 0  1  0|  1
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  4|  4   4  16  .000|  0|  2   4|  0|  5| 0  6  2|  0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  4| 13   5  26  .308|  0|  0   0|  1|  0| 1  2  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  4|  7   3  21  .190|  0|  1   1|  0|  2| 0  1  2|  0
 15 WILSON, Kimberly....  4|  8   9  29 -.034|  0|  0   2|  1|  4| 1  0  0|  0
 5  CASTILLO, Sahara....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 10 WEBB, Erin..........  2|  1   2   5 -.200|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  4|  0   1   2 -.500|  1|  1   1|  1| 12| 0  0  0|  0
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 45  35 137  .073| 42|  4  11|  5| 45| 3 14  5|  3
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  4  37  .324   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2   7 12  38 -.132   Date: Oct 04, 2002   Attend: 551   Time: 1H 50M
   3  10 11  32 -.031   Referees: TANA MARTIN, DAPHNE NELSEN, KAREN MARSHALL
   4  12  8  30  .133